Google Music & Youtube RED 14.99 a Month

[bobenhaus]

http://9to5google.com/2015/12/09/google-play-music-family-plan-available/

Having announced its intention to do so earlier this year, Google is now rolling out its up-t0-6 person family plan for its popular music streaming service. Starting today, you can sign up to the Google Play Music family plan for $14.99 per month and you and your family can listen to as much music as you like without ads. Over the next few days, Android devices in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, France and Germany should see the option to sign up become available in the Play Music app.


You’ll unlock all of the same features you’d get from having individual subscriptions, including ad free, unlimited access to more than 35 million songs and the ability for each family member to stream simultaneously on any device, all for one low price. Now, you can keep your listening experiences separate from your partner and get music recommendations tailored to the music you like. So, my husband’s Depeche Mode singles will never show up in my account – only my true favorites will be front and center.

As a kicker, all Google Play Music family plan subscriptions in the US come with free access to YouTube Red, the company’s entirely music-focussed video streaming service which launched recently.

 

[AustinIllini]

Yeah, this is a no-brainer for me and my family.

 

[Frankied22]

How is it setup? Is it like apple where one person has to be the main account with family sharing on?

 

[tbayrgs]

I'd love to replace my Apple Music subscription with this but sadly, Google only goes halfway with the implementation. First, family members have to be 13 or older--that's a problem when you have a 12, 10, and 7 year old who all love using Apple Music on their iPads. Second, Google gives the parent/head of household, or 'family manager' as they call it, no control over purchasing capabilities of the other accounts. The direct quote from the setup process:

Add a credit card for your family members. They can make purchases on Google Play without your approval, but you can approve their in-app purchases billed by Google Play.

Invite only family members you trust, since you'll be responsible for their purchases. They must be 13 or older and have a Google Account to join.

As overbearing as Apple can be regarding security (see my comments in the 'Some days I feel like ditching Apple' thread), this is just the opposite. How about first, you actually accommodate 'families' of all ages, not just parents with teenagers. And second, give us the option to have some fiscal control. If I want to give my kids unmitigated access to my credit card, make that an option rather than assume I'd like to allow my kids free reign on spending.

 

[MRU]

How is it setup? Is it like apple where one person has to be the main account with family sharing on?

Yep. The main account designates the sub accounts for the subscription.

 

[MRU]

I'd love to replace my Apple Music subscription with this but sadly, Google only goes halfway with the implementation. First, family members have to be 13 or older--that's a problem when you have a 12, 10, and 7 year old who all love using Apple Music on their iPads. Second, Google gives the parent/head of household, or 'family manager' as they call it, no control over purchasing capabilities of the other accounts. The direct quote from the setup process:

As overbearing as Apple can be regarding security (see my comments in the 'Some days I feel like ditching Apple' thread), this is just the opposite. How about first, you actually accommodate 'families' of all ages, not just parents with teenagers. And second, give us the option to have some fiscal control. If I want to give my kids unmitigated access to my credit card, make that an option rather than assume I'd like to allow my kids free reign on spending.

Wow yeah I can see that could be a problem indeed.

 

[AustinIllini]

I'd love to replace my Apple Music subscription with this but sadly, Google only goes halfway with the implementation. First, family members have to be 13 or older--that's a problem when you have a 12, 10, and 7 year old who all love using Apple Music on their iPads. Second, Google gives the parent/head of household, or 'family manager' as they call it, no control over purchasing capabilities of the other accounts. The direct quote from the setup process:



As overbearing as Apple can be regarding security (see my comments in the 'Some days I feel like ditching Apple' thread), this is just the opposite. How about first, you actually accommodate 'families' of all ages, not just parents with teenagers. And second, give us the option to have some fiscal control. If I want to give my kids unmitigated access to my credit card, make that an option rather than assume I'd like to allow my kids free reign on spending.

Wow yeah I can see that could be a problem indeed.

Just added my sister to our Google Family. Purchase approval only works on in-app purchases, which is a little weird.

 

[Flow39]

I switched from Apple Music over to Google Play Music after I switched over to Android and also because YouTube Red is included. There are even rumors of a Netflix-like service coming to be bundled with the GPM/YTR membership, all for $10 a month. No brainer to switch for me, and the fact that I can use GPM on iOS as well is nice. Up until recently, Apple Music couldn't be used on Android, so that last point is kind of moot now.

 

[Frankied22]

Would this be easy to setup with my roommates?

 

[MRU]

I switched from Apple Music over to Google Play Music after I switched over to Android and also because YouTube Red is included. There are even rumors of a Netflix-like service coming to be bundled with the GPM/YTR membership, all for $10 a month. No brainer to switch for me, and the fact that I can use GPM on iOS as well is nice. Up until recently, Apple Music couldn't be used on Android, so that last point is kind of moot now.

I love google play music not just because its a good value servce but because Google actually went out of their way to help me with its 'limitations'. Due to being a community expert for vodafone, they adjusted my google play music account so that I dont have any restrictions deauthorising devcies (normal limit is 4 devices deauthorised per year) and the fact that they actively went out their way to do this for my account makes it an invaluable service to me.

Now I only wish they would launch youtube red in Ireland as we had youtube key (which red replaces) but now thats been replaced we dont have the youtube red to replace it here. So essentially they have just removed a service here.

 

[Abazigal]

Not available outside the US, which pretty much makes it a non-contender for me.

 

[IFRIT]

It available in several countries.

 

[MRU]

It available in several countries.

YouTube Red they are referring too which is USA only current.

 

[ozaz]

Second, Google gives the parent/head of household, or 'family manager' as they call it, no control over purchasing capabilities of the other accounts.

I suspect this is a practical step by Google to prevent cheap family discounts from being used by groups of friends. The assumption being you would not be inclined to give friends the ability to buy apps etc on your card.

I'm not familiar with how Apple family plan works. Do they have an alternative way to stop Family discounts from being abused by groups of friends?

 

[tbayrgs]

I suspect this is a practical step by Google to prevent cheap family discounts from being used by groups of friends. The assumption being you would not be inclined to give friends the ability to buy apps etc on your card.

I'm not familiar with how Apple family plan works. Do they have an alternative way to stop Family discounts from being abused by groups of friends?

Apple Music Family plans are tied to Family Sharing and operates in similar fashion to a point. The Organizer agrees to pay for all purchases made by family members. All members have access each other's purchases (apps or media), to a shared family calendar, shared photos albums, location tracking/find my iPhone. So unless you feel comfortable giving a friend access to all of that, you won't include them in your Apple Music family plan. The added benefit Apple affords is 1) the ability to set up accounts for children under the age of 13 and 2) control over your kids purchases (believe this goes up to age 18, but not certain). I can't do either of these 2 items using Google so unfortunately, Google Play Music is not an option.

I'm curious, what do any of you that have younger kids do if you use Google and Android devices?

 

[ozaz]

Apple Music Family plans are tied to Family Sharing and operates in similar fashion to a point. The Organizer agrees to pay for all purchases made by family members. All members have access each other's purchases (apps or media), to a shared family calendar, shared photos albums, location tracking/find my iPhone. So unless you feel comfortable giving a friend access to all of that, you won't include them in your Apple Music family plan. The added benefit Apple affords is 1) the ability to set up accounts for children under the age of 13 and 2) control over your kids purchases (believe this goes up to age 18, but not certain). I can't do either of these 2 items using Google so unfortunately, Google Play Music is not an option.

I'm curious, what do any of you that have younger kids do if you use Google and Android devices?

Thanks for the explanation.

I don't have a solution to your concerns, but do have another question about Apple Family Sharing. With Apple Family Sharing, are family members obliged to make all their purchases using the family payment card?

Although I have not yet tried it myself, my understand of Google Family payments is that this is a supplement to individual payment options (so a family member can choose to pay for any given item either using their own individual payment method, or the family payment method). This could be a benefit to a family consisting of older kids or only adults.